More newbie advice!!!

[FredericRobinson]

I wouldn't expect that sort of carry on on the private sites, or the better public ones

[wsn03]

I did a private one last year, very civilised...boring even! I missed seeing some of nonsense. Nice washing facilities though.

[delta0]

Downsy said:

I've not booked yet but am talking to tour operators. It would be my first visit and I wanted some honest feedback before taking the plunge:

Im looking to stay on a private, secure site with numbered pitches, however:

I hear the toilets are less than sanitary, no loo seat, broken loo seats...
The showers generally won't have hot water
Your neighbour may do anything until 4am from setting off fireworks, throwing buckets off water, blasting out loud music etc etc
I might have to protect my pride and joy from drunken idiots

Now I'm no party pooper but I'd rather know in advance and be prepared, than turn up and and get the right hump!

Any real life experiences and warnings would be greatly appreciated.

You will have no issues in a private campsite. They are secure with 24 hour security. They all have good facilities otherwise people wouldn’t return. The silliness normally happens in the public campsites. It will however be noisy due to the obvious 24 hour race going on and the large amount of parties that may be going on around you more so in the public sites. I would recommend sleeping with earplugs well inserted. The only trouble with sleep I had last year was the blazing sunshine turning the tent into an oven at 8am

[fatboy18]

Toilets and shower blocks are fine now on the public sites, I think a lot of the stories you may have heard are from several years ago.

If you want a shower first thing in the morning then yes, there may well be a small queue. Just pick a time later in the morning for a freshen up.
No problem using the sinks for a shave and teeth cleaning, just walk past the queue as they will be queuing for the showers.

There is one original toilet block inside the circuit wall near the rear of the ACO Grandstand, the urinals are on the outside of the building and the traps inside!

Also some of the toilet blocks in the Village also have showers, so that's another option.

[fatboy18]

ACO Public sites can be great, I've tried most of them over the years.

If you arrive on a ACO public site like Beausejour, its BIG. Chances are you will be guided to an area by a French Marshal on a push bike. You may set up your pitch but if you were to arrive say on a Thursday, by Friday or Saturday morning other campers may well be all bunched up around you. So if you don't like the looks of your neighbours just move somewhere else on the site. As with all the ACO Sites its truly international.

Check out the Beer Mountain website for details of Campsites.

[MrC986]

I've always stayed on the PH secure campsite at Bleu Nord and with one very minor exceptions in 5 years, it's a great place - if anyone misbehaves, they're not allowed back (& that applies to all those in the same group) as the event organiser stays on the site & they run a tight ship. As for noise, ear plugs & a decent pair of ear defenders over the top will assist your sleep, though if you're a light sleeper, camping might not be for you!

[gt6]

As said if you want to sleep ear plugs are a must, not for the race but for sleeping, whatever site you camp on will always have noises and activity that you are not used to, ear plugs and alcohol usually helps.

beermountain has good write ups on the individual sites.

I have grown to like the more restrained nature of tertre rouge with its slightly older inhabitants, the high metal fencing and its 24 hour security at both gates means it is safe.

[Cooper1234]

Downsy said:

I've not booked yet but am talking to tour operators. It would be my first visit and I wanted some honest feedback before taking the plunge:

Im looking to stay on a private, secure site with numbered pitches, however:

I hear the toilets are less than sanitary, no loo seat, broken loo seats...
The showers generally won't have hot water
Your neighbour may do anything until 4am from setting off fireworks, throwing buckets off water, blasting out loud music etc etc
I might have to protect my pride and joy from drunken idiots

Now I'm no party pooper but I'd rather know in advance and be prepared, than turn up and and get the right hump!

Any real life experiences and warnings would be greatly appreciated.

Downsy
This is my first year and also heard horror stories about public sites and OTT music and silly behaviour. I have taken advice from this forum and gone with a private site. Team Langoustine. I have spoken to them and it seems that they come highly recommended on PH and quite honestly I can't wait now. Give them a call. Although as you have said you have spoken to operators, so you probably already have.

[joema]

Public sites are fine these days. I would really not worry about them.

[Printertosh]

I second that the public sites are fine now. Mind you I quite liked them (entertainment wise) when they weren't

Toilets and showers are generally fine inside the campsites (cleaned regularly 24 hours a day all week by contracted cleaning company, which wasn't the case when private campsites started to pop up everywhere). The circuit toilets are similar to most town / city centre pub toilets, fine if you just need a slash, at the weekend they get a bit hectic and this is where the toilet seats go missing (not sure if they have them anyway) but the funny thing is that whether you pay for the cheapest camping ticket, a private site, a glamping tent, an expensive caravan, hotel box or chateau, if you need to visit while on circuit and don't want to walk 'some distance' back to the private facilities you'll be using the same facilitities as everyone else

Car security wise it's best to question what's the best place for the car. When my mate took his Aston Martin the biggest worry was the loose stone on the road and fireworks on the Sunday night. The loose stone is fine as long as people aren't filling buckets with gas and lighting it (which some people do). This causes the stones to bounce off anything within firing line at great speed so don't put your campsite or car within firing line. This is where a non numbered camping pitch is best as you can hopefully spot the crazy drunken gas bucket explosive kind of people and not camp near them. These are the same ones banging out euro pop or bon jovi. Sometimes they're not easy to spot, some people go all week drinking pimms or champagne listening to Rick Astley only to get to Sunday night and go crazy, cutting down whole trees for their fire, stripping off naked and launching mortars at various angles. I'm afraid with the fireworks it's pot luck, my dads motorhome which is 7 x 5m including awning has only been hit once by a falling rocket in 10+ years stopping in Yellow, Blue, Green and Red public campsites

I best thing about the public campsites are the number of different nationalities all mixed in together. It really makes it feel like you're not at Silverstone, although the sun can help a bit

Whatever you choose, have fun, I'm sure you will

[joema]

Also spaces are usually allocated on arrival so if you don't like the pitch, feel free to move or just wait for your guide to go away and then move

[fatboy18]

joema said:

Also spaces are usually allocated on arrival so if you don't like the pitch, feel free to move or just wait for your guide to go away and then move

Exactly

[850R]

Cannot thank everyone enough for the advice, really looking forward to going now and we seem to have every eventuality covered fingers crossed, think this might already be the first of many to come, we are on bleu nord site, two pitches next to each other booked and paid for so we shouldn't have any issue with room etc, one big tent and the V70 so fingers crossed lots of room on the pitch for everything

[fatboy18]

I was on that site by myself last year



I had plenty of space around me and on Saturday evening did some gourmet cooking


Have a Great Le mans

[The Outsiders]

You’ve just to remember it Le Mans.

There are loads of people there with their pride and joy and some even take their wife.

However, I have been going to Le Mans pretty much every year since 1980, the things I will point are;

Toilets are a lot better than they were and you have be aware that 250,000 poeple are there and the attendants do their best to keep on top

Showers, same thing....get up early and you’ll be ok

The antics on Friday night I do think have become quite pathetic on the Mulsanne and the inner road, I just stay away.....there is lots to do, visit the pits, the City etc

I always buy a Le Mans radio to keep up with the action....probably the only way to understand the race really, I use this as my earplugs when getting to sleep.

Trouble.....I’ve never really seen any bad trouble, some idiots but that’s everywhere and it’s easy enough to keep away from them

Camping, we have used Garage Vert for about 10 years and never had any security issues. It is a main thoroughfare so people can’t really sneak around and the regulars look after each other. It’s also very near the ‘village’ and Dunlop bridge

The thing to do is relax and enjoy, it’s the most amazing place and in general you will meet new friends that you will only see once a year and that’s at this very special place...it Le Mans

[Ben Jk]

I echo the fact that Radio Le Mans is a must. As said the only real way to have any idea what is happening.

[cartart]

This still pretty much covers it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkajmafAOwY

Been doing it since 2003

[wsn03]

fatboy18 said:

I was on that site by myself last year



I had plenty of space around me and on Saturday evening did some gourmet cooking


Have a Great Le mans

That looks really spacious yet near to the Grandstand (ish). Exactly which site and where? Bleu Nord? Good facilities? Is it pretty chilled? Security ok?

Edited by wsn03 on Monday 5th March 17:26

[fatboy18]

The site is Blue Nord. I was in the open Public part of the campsite. This means that Basically anyone could walk around the site and yes if no one was around could also go into your tent.

But one takes sensinsible precautions, Valuables you lock in the car and put a cover over them so prying eyes cant see them. Not bothered about a small bbq or sleeping bag, just left those in the tent.
Yes there is security at the campsite entrance and local volunteer ACO marshals.
Two public shower blocks on Blue Nord. One near the site entrance and another near the 1st Tickets Pistonheads Fenced off private area in the middle of Blue nord campsite.

Its a flat campsite by the side of the Airfield and near the lower entrance of the circuit.
Pros, good location.
Cons, Can be windy, if you look at my pics you will notice all guy ropes are one side of the Gazebo with the wind blowing in from across the airfield. Tracks to site entrance very dusty in summer can end up boggy if a lot of rain falls.

Tips: International site, French Germans, Danes, English. Introduce yourself to neighbours and keep an eye out for each others stuff. There were lots of empty pitches around me last year. I made new friends with a French couple last year and also met a great bunch of RAF lads who invited me over for several beers on their pitch. I also had friends staying on the site, but I did my own thing independently.

[surveyor]

It's a great event. Mad Friday was stepped on hard last year. No bad thing - it had gone a bit too far.

It's a bit pot luck with neighbours. We had some real assholes (British) 2 years ago who played loud music from a disco sound system until 6AM - even when they were not at their camp. Security were around due to a theft in the area the next day... Everyone complained and to be fair at the merest hint of noise they were back down making them turn it down...